Best wireless router with 8 gigabit ethernet ports

• 

  voltagex on 09/09/2018 - 13:57

  +2

  I wonder if a separate AP and switch would be better for your case.

  • 

    aussietivoman on 09/09/2018 - 14:53

    I have a Telstra NBN modem upstairs.

    Its wifi signal although AC class is poor. Doesnt make it downstairs.

    I do have a ethernet connection downstairs.

    Would like to run a wireless router or access point downstairs. What is the major difference between the two?

    Ideally I'd have the Telstra wifi network upstairs with one SSID (say SSID = upstairs) and the device downstairs connected to the modem via the ethernet cable between the floors.

    The device downstairs would plug in 8 devices into its gigabit ethernet ports, plus supply a second wifi network with a unique SSID - say SSID = downstairs.

    • 

      alvian on 10/09/2018 - 06:48

      An access point joins wireless clients to the local area network. A switch joins wired clients to the local area network.

      A router connects two networks together, in particular your local area network with the wide area network. A modem connects two electrically dissimilar networks together, in particular Ethernet and xDSL/FttX.

      A device commonly referred to as a "wireless router" combines a router, an access point and a switch into a single unit. In your use case you will be utilising the access point and the switch sections of a wireless router downstairs, and you HAVE to leave out the router section. If the router section is used by mistake then the upstairs clients will not be able to communicate with the downstairs clients: you will end up creating two local area networks, one nested inside the other.

      So there is no need to spend so much money on these expensive wireless routers. You can use an inexpensive switch and an access point instead.

      Also if you have to connect 8 wired devices downstairs then an 8-port wireless router is not enough. One port will be used for the Ethernet uplink to upstairs so you will need 9 Ethernet ports.

      Similarly, an 8-port switch won't be enough and you'll need 10 ports. One for the uplink, another for the access point, which then leaves you with 8 for the wired clients.

• 

  hawkeye on 09/09/2018 - 14:21

  Depends on what you need it for.
  For NAS I'd have bought this over the AC 88U https://www.asus.com/au/Networking/BRT-AC828/ but has only 1/2 the ram as the Rapture.
  Saying that both of these routers aren't supported by Merlin. The AC-88U is supported by Merlin.

  Merlin Supported Devices

  Devices supported on the new generation/current branch (382.xx and newer):
  * RT-AC66U_B1 (use the RT-AC68U firmware)
  * RT-AC56U
  * RT-AC68U, RT-AC68P, RT-AC68UF (including HW revision C1 and E1)
  * RT-AC1900 & RT-AC1900P (use the RT-AC68U firmware)
  * RT-AC87U
  * RT-AC3200
  * RT-AC88U
  * RT-AC3100
  * RT-AC5300
  * RT-AC86U

  No longer supported:
  * RT-N16
  * RT-N66U
  * RT-AC66U